According to Grunitz, Volkswagen’s first electric GTI will be “a real go kart” to drive. He’s already driven a prototype, claiming, “It’s really amazing.”
You can see the concept pulls design features from VW’s classic GTI models. However, the company promises new tech will enable even more control and handling for that “go kart” like feel.
If it makes it to the US market, I’m in. That thing looks exactly like what I’ve been waiting for.
An ID GTI and a clapped out off-roader are probably my perfect 2 car solution right now.
Same. I’ve been holding out hope this doesn’t suck since they teased the concept. Will be my 4th GTI if so. Love the things. They’re the perfect daily driver.
Which generations have you had? I owned a Mk6 before I bought my Mk7 R. Great cars.
4, 5, 6
4 was pretty short lived. Got it very well used already as a college car. Loved it so much though I got a 5 soon as the 4 died. By then was out of college and had new car money. Had the 5 until about 150k miles when it finally wasn’t worth repairing. Found the 6 used for a steal. Only has 80k miles at this point. I drive it maybe twice a week with working from home and traveling for projects. Hoping to pass it off to the kids.
But I keep looking at an Mk7 R for sale nearby. Tempted to go for it. I just also like not having car payments if not needed.
150k miles
Not worth repairing
Is this what counts as a good car?
Where I live the roads get salted all winter. It’s not uncommon unfortunately for significant portions of cars to be rusted out by that point.
Same. Salt and sand from late November to mid March around here. Used to start earlier, but climate change has pushed that back a bit. Still, most rust repair I’ve had to do on a car is a fender, muffler, and headers. So I don’t buy it as a reason to let a car go at 150k. You should easily get another 50-150k out of a decent car.
Earlier golf e made it to Canada, with a nice 30% premium on top of the exchange rate
I loved my first golf but VW service was hot garbage. I am not sure they can lure me back, definitely not with the markups here
Would love an electric hatch back. Wish they’d bring more of them to the US.
Ioniq 5?
The Ioniq 5 looks nice, but usually hatchback isn’t referring to a crossover SUV sized vehicle so much as a VW Golf sized vehicle.
I was going to retort they’re similar sizes but the ioniq 5 is almost 20" longer, damn. My perception is so warped because everything is a god damn SUV and I get excited even when someone makes a large hatchback.
That’s what the first reviews of the Ioniq 5 all said, it’s proportioned like a hatchback but it’s quite a bit bigger in person. Which is a shame, I don’t need or want bigger. The VW Golf or Polo presents a nice niche that no one wants to fill in the North American market.
I literally wouldn’t be able to open my doors in my garage. Ioniq too fat.
Leaf and Bolt are about it. There are bigger hatchback vehicles like the Kia EV6 and Hyundai Ioniq5, but they are more SUV like. There was an electric VW Golf and a Mitsubishi, but they had really limited range. I am definitely the target market for the electric GTI - I have owned two Leafs and have purchased both of them even though I preferred the gas GTI driving experience more.
It makes noises like older GTIs?! I’ll take two!
You mean the creaky door hinges and the vibrating sun visors?
Oh shit my mk4 golf does both of those. I didn’t realize they were common problems
Why would you want it to be noisy? I get that noise was cool when that older technology was new, and I get the nostalgia, but try silent before you head to the past. It just seems so much more modern and so much more powerful, the silent acceleration just makes it feel effortless.
I get the amazing tech of those older cars. I get the heat, the hundreds of moving parts, the alloys, the precision, it’s just amazing. Like steampunk. Appreciate it as the museum piece that it is or go geek out over it but go silent but deadly
Not sure why you’re getting downvoted. EVs’ reduction in noise pollution are second only to their reduction in atmospheric pollution. I love quiet vehicles.
For the same reason the last car I bought has a manual transmission: It’s fun.
Not for everyone else
Any car that you can’t turn off the internal noises is an instant no buy for me. Stupid
I want a stick with an e-car.
Things are different off-road, antilock brakes suck on dirt and different gear ranges are useful. Not everyone lives urban.
Starting at 27,000 dollars though. I wish more effort was put into dropping the price as low as possible. The industry knows that a cheap car would sell huge volumes, but with CAFE, small cars are not where the profit is.
27,000 would be among the cheapest new cars available. We’ve come a long way from when EVs cost more than ICE models.
Yes, though my comment was more pointed to how the CAFE regulations incentivize auto manufacturers to create larger vehicles for the higher profits. If the US didn’t start leaning towards trucks and SUVs back then and instead kept innovating what cars could be, the competition in the compact car space would have driven prices further down.
The fact that 27k is considered among the cheapest new cars is partially a result of automakers discontinuing their cars in favour of larger vehicles with juicier profits.
I dont like large vehicles either and the trend. But $27k is still not that high, inflation just makes it seem that way. A new RAV4 is cheaper than they were in the 90s despite being s bigger and more premium now.
27k today is the equivalent to $13500 in 1996. I’m guessing the new GTI will be a lot nicer than what you got back then, thats the price of a base Cavalier.
I can agree with that. Undoubtedly there’s better value now than what there was thirty years ago. I think my gripe is moreso seeing other countries having 10k EVs available and there not being a simple way to get one in North America.
I’d just like to see us have more options. Without a single contender less than 15,000 dollars, we’re sort of stuck buying bigger and pricier cars.
Batteries and electric motors are still pretty expensive to manufacture. I don’t think a budget EV would be available until a new, cheaper battery tech comes out.
You’re right they are expensive components, though I’d point out the battery tends to be the cost leader of the drive train by a significant margin. The motors are increasing over time, but not enough to surpass the battery.
Drive traintrain cost breakdown:
With this in mind, the average electric car has range of 200 miles, with the most popular model pushing beyond 300. The battery could easily be cut in half in order to lower the vehicle cost.
Don’t get me wrong, I know half the battery doesn’t mean the car would be half the price, but it would be a good chunk. And in today’s market, every dollar saved matters.
I agree with the reduced battery idea, but you’ve got to consider that would significantly reduce the life of the battery and slightly reduce max torque output as well. For me that wouldn’t be as important, but for many people that’s a huge negative. They expect the battery to last as long as, say, a manual transmission.
I haven’t seen any data suggesting degradation is worse in smaller capacity batteries, but even if it is, degradation as a whole isn’t as a big a deal as might be believed. It was significant ten years ago, but insignificant today.
I’ll take your word for it on the torque point. I don’t remember much about EV torque comparisons but it makes sense on the face of it that if you lose a bunch of the energy, some of the torque goes with it.
On battery replacement due to degradation:
Across all years and models, outside of big recalls, only 2.5% have been replaced. This increase from last year is entirely due to older cars. For cars older than 2015, replacement rates are 13%, but under 1% for cars from 2016 and newer.
Non recall replacements (by year of manufacture):
- 2011 - 30.00%
- 2012 - 15.94%
- 2013 - 9.81%
- 2014 - 6.81%
- 2015 - 3.90%
That’s an order of magnitude improvement in half a decade, and the best of that is already ten years old. Battery technology is only getting better, and with better batteries, we could afford to put smaller ones in a commuter car and sell them cheaply.
I agree.
Does it stull spy on you like none else?
Can we have an e-car with manual controls and no tracking please?
“No, it’s the consumer’s fault for dragging their heels.”
Much want
Should have been called the GTEV or GTV (since the T already has the E sound in it)
Or just GT, since thats the two letters they also use for their diesels (GTD) and plug in hybrids (GTE).
They could have also gone with GTID, still GTI, but also ID, their EV brand.
